Over the last two weeks a parliamentary drama has been playing out in Israel. MK David Rotem tried to push a law through the Knesset reshaping the way Israel handles conversion to Judaism. Israel Beitenu, his secular, right-wing party, draws support largely from immigrants from the FSU, and, naturally, seeks to further their interests. Among
The 10th of Tevet: Taking the Long ViewGoing over old clippings of news items from the beginning of the decade, I found a pessimistic evaluation by someone who was a government minister at the time. It claimed that Arafat had a “strategic advantage” in that he did not need to “win” the terror war launched
Once again, people not born Jewish who decide to link their fate to the Jewish people are discovering that the representatives of the state of the Jews are not their allies, but rather mistrustful inquisitors, suspicious of their decision. This time it is the Interior Ministry, which recently circulated instructions requiring its clerks to apply administrative
Clearly, encouraging conversion is a key factor in ensuring the future of Diaspora Jewry, and a posture of intransigence taken by the government – refusal to accept converts as full members of the Jewish people – threatens the Jewish future. read more http://bit.ly/TleoTN
